Meltemi Blu

My husband and I have just returned from a 10-night stay at TUI BLU Meltemi in Perissa, and we genuinely had such a fantastic holiday. We were really sad to leave and would absolutely return, if we come back to Santorini.

I wanted to break our review down into the different elements....that’s what we found most useful when researching the hotel.

🛏️ Rooms

Our room was comfortable, modern and very clean, with everything we needed for our stay. We had a private pool on the balcony, which was a lovely addition and something we really enjoyed. We were slightly nervous about the pool being freezing after reading some reviews, but honestly, it really wasn't as cold as we expected. It was refreshing when you first got in, but perfectly enjoyable, particularly as the day warmed up.

Only slight shame was that I found the mattress very firm, my husband didn't mind it too much - but he's a heavier sleeper than I am. It would be nice if there was an option to add a softer mattress topper (upon request). Minor point, but it did mean that I lost sleep during the stay.

🧹 Cleanliness

We found the whole resort to be very clean and well maintained. Our room was kept lovely throughout our stay - we never had any concerns about cleanliness.

🏊 Pools & sunbeds

The two main pools are lovely and we never struggled to find a sunbed during our stay. The loungers are padded and really comfortable, which really makes a difference when you're spending a lot of time around the pool.

We only saw towels being removed from unused sunbeds once, on a particularly busy day (presumably following a complaint), so this wasn't something we experienced as an issue. It did make us a little nervous, but we were always down at breakfast early and on loungers early.

There are a couple of other pools around the resort which are a little harder to find, but having a wander around is definitely worthwhile as it helps you get your bearings and discover all the different areas.

The pools were a little chilly first thing, but warmed up as the day went on. They weren't uncomfortably cold...and I'm a huge wuss when it comes to cold water!

🍽️ Food

This is probably the area where we were most surprised by some of the negative reviews we'd read beforehand...

We thought the food was truly excellent!

It was tasty, fresh, plentiful and there was a huge amount of choice. Even after 10 days, we never felt particularly bored with the food or felt that we were eating the same things over and over. This was also helped by themed nights every day of the week.

There was always live cooking, including omelettes made to order at breakfast and fresh gyros on Greek night. We particularly enjoyed the Greek and Asian evenings.

Obviously food is subjective, but we genuinely couldn't understand why this seemed to be such a common complaint in reviews. We were honestly really impressed.

🎯 Activities & entertainment

The activities were one of the highlights of our stay and the TUI BLU reps were fantastic.

Jula deserves a special mention! We loved doing Pilates, sunset yoga, the hike to Ancient Thera, AquaFit and gym sessions with her. She was so kind, energetic and encouraging, and always made sure everyone was comfortable while still making the activities fun.

The Ancient Thera fitness hike was particularly memorable – and we'd definitely recommend doing it! It's not the easieat walk, but Jula ensured we went at a manageable pace for all and we stopped at the church half way up. If you decide to go alone, be sure to go before sunrise as it would be an uncomfortably hot climb during the day. If you're up for an early start, the views are absolutely worth it - and it's free!

Erin and Zoe were also brilliant with the activities. We joined in with bracelet making, karaoke, quiz night/Chance to Dance, an introduction to Greek, the hand scrub lesson and shuffleboard, amongst others.

And a special mention for ladder golf – what a revelation! 😂 Thanks to Zoe, we've actually ordered one online to play at home! Definitely play if you get a chance, a great laugh.

We also really enjoyed the TUI stamp collection challenge throughout th3 stay. Taking part in certain activities earns you stamps, with ability to win two drinks along the way...and a gift for completing the full card. It's such a simple idea but made joining in with activities even more fun. Safe to say we completed it, but we won't tell you what the gift is!

Tracey, who did our welcome talk and provided lots of general information, was also extremely helpful and a real wealth of knowledge.

🚌 Excursions

We did both the Santorini Secrets and Simply Santorini excursions, and would definitely recommend them.

Kim was fantastic, and we thoroughly enjoyed both trips. They were a great way of seeing more of the island without having to worry about driving and parking, which can be quite difficult in Santorini.

Pyrgos was a particular favourite of ours – absolutely beautiful.

Our only minor criticism would be that we would have liked slightly more time in some of the villages to explore independently, but that's being picky! Additionally, the verbal information given during both tours is an incredibly similar script - not necessarily surprising, but don't expect to learn a lot of different information by attending both. Its the sights and stops that are what makes both worth doing, rather than what you hear about the island.

📍 Location

The location in Perissa is excellent. It's really easy to walk out of the resort and visit the shops, pick up bottles of water or snacks, and explore the area. It's also far less busy than Oia and Fira.

We also liked being able to walk out of the hotel in the evenings. We noticed quite a few fellow hotel guests doing the same, particularly around the bars and entertainment outside the resort.

💆 Spa

The only experience that didn't quite live up to the rest of the holiday were the massages in the spa.

We each booked a massage, which we felt were fairly expensive, and unfortunately neither of us was impressed.

My husband had a back, neck and shoulder massage, while I had a full-body anti-stress massage. Personally, I wasn't comfortable with having my back and joints clicked during the massage, particularly my feet and toes, and I wasn't asked beforehand whether I was happy for this to be done. I've never had joint clicking as part of a relaxation massage, and certainly wasn't comfortable with the amount of force applied to do so which was actually quite alarming at times.

My joints ended up feeling quite sore for several days afterwards, which wasn't really the post-massage feeling I was hoping for. Obviously massage is very personal, so this may just have been our experience, but it's worth mentioning as it wasn't enjoyable.

🍹 Drinks

The other slight downside for us was the price of drinks. We appreciate that resort drinks are always going to be more expensive, but we did find the prices a little prohibitive, particularly if you're having several drinks.

We're not big drinkers ourselves, but we did wonder whether slightly lower prices might encourage more guests to stay around the bar and get involved with the evening activities and entertainment. Sometimes it did feel a little quiet - with reps struggling to get people involved.

When we went for walks outside the hotel, we saw quite a few hotel guests we recognised enjoying the bars and entertainment along the beach / in town. Always going to happen to a degree, but feel it would happen slightly less if drinks (even if only some) were more affordable. Seems a shame that viewing and enjoying the entertainment at the hotel is somewhat compromised by this.

🌅 A few Santorini tips

If you're visiting Santorini, we'd definitely recommend checking the cruise ship schedules before planning your trip to Oia. We found it noticeably quieter when there weren't cruise ships in the bay – although Oia is still busy!

Also, try to find somewhere a little away from the main crowds for sunset. We found that much more enjoyable than standing shoulder-to-shoulder with everyone else.

And our biggest recommendation: get up early and watch the sunrise from Perissa beach. We did this twice and, honestly, we preferred it to the famous Oia sunset. It's peaceful, beautiful and well worth the early alarm.

🐈 The cats!

As cat lovers, we loved seeing how many cats there were around the resort and Perissa. Many appeared to be fed by local residents, which was really lovely to see. We've been to places where the treatment of stray animals has been quite the opposite, and it can be genuinely upsetting, so it was nice to see so many of them being cared for.

Temi the hotel cat is very well tended to, and certainly has her life-plan well made by living in a 5* hotel!

❤️ Overall

We had an excellent holiday at TUI BLU Meltemi. There are always going to be small things that could be improved, but for us the positives massively outweighed the minor negatives.

The hotel, food, activities, location and especially the wonderful TUI team all contributed to a brilliant 10 nights.

We're genuinely sad to be home and back to work and normality!

A huge thank you to the whole Meltemi Blu team, and especially Jula, Erin, Zoe, Tracey and Kim, for helping make our holiday so memorable.

We'd absolutely stay here again and have recommend it to family and friends already 🇬🇷❤️

Incredible hotel, very likely the best we have stayed in. The accommodation is beautiful and in a fantastic location. The staff are by far the most helpful and friendly we have ever experienced on holiday. Every single member of staff we encountered went above and beyond. We are pescatarian and found there was an incredible range of food options in the buffet and culinarium. There was always great vegetarian options too. The food and drink is fantastic quality, we were planning to eat out most evenings but found we never did because of the great selection in the buffet. The buffet is a separate room to where you dine so felt very much like you were eating in a normal restaurant, with fantastic waiter service. We never had chance to pour our own drink!

There is a large range of activities you can join in, including, free guided tours, craft classes, exercise classes, cocktail and wine tasting, and language classes.

We had the terrace with whirlpool, the room was immaculate and huge. No complaints at all.

The area is great, with a huge range of bars and restaurants just minutes from the hotel. Highly recommend Tranquillo, which is a vegetarian restaurant right next door. From the hotel you can book trips to Oia, and easily reach the majority of areas around the island. You can hike to the next town over and take a water taxi back (highly recommend).

The beach is beautiful, but rocky so take some watershoes. The lovely lady that greets you in the buffet everyday recommended that we try to watch the sunrise on the beach one day and this was incredible.

We did find that people often reserved sunloungers early around the two main pools, limiting the options with umbrellas for shade. However, you could always find space around the third pool or the beach.

Honestly can not recommend this hotel enough, we can not wait to return.